When everything else fails—relationships, technology, the government—it’s true that music is the ultimate salve. Humanity turns to a good drink and soul food, a bunch of excellent vocals, titillating synths, hard bass, wierdass arpeggios and all the good rhythms as a virtual refuge from the mess that is the real world.
Windhoek-based Zimbabwean emerging singer/songwriter Ndabezinhle “Zie” Khoza‘s recently released neo-soul single which comes in the shape of “Ndamuwana” kinda serves the world with an ultimate lullaby of the good life and hopeful romance that we all been yearning for since that problematic coronavirus became part of our existence.
The song, the musician said, is a pure love story. As the title self-explains, it is one about finding the ONE. Finally meeting that person that ticks all the right boxes, and now that you have found her, she completely blows you away that you can’t wait to introduce her to your mum and family. Oh yes, and being an African, introducing a girl to your mum is a big deal of sort.
“A special lady inspired this song, and it’s purely an expression of my personal experience. Whether that experience is current or not, I like to keep people guessing,” he confirmed to us in a phone interview.
The single, probably Zie’s debut attempt at secular music (he has been doing gospel music), is a refreshing return to a time when men would sing to the women they loved with so much soul that it sounded like tearful begging. His vocal range is vast and his lush instrumentation is varied enough for his music to have the sort of genre-blending that has made so many neo-soul classics timeless. That makes his lyrical prowess central to her music’s enjoyment, something seldom found in much of today’s popular R&B. By comparison, he has a singular voice that cuts through the monotony of mainstream R&B and it makes his love musings too visceral to be matched by many others.
Inherently, we wouldn’t have anticipated it to be any less as the muso’s filiation with the industry of instruments and words first manifested when he was at Prince Edward School and played in the Jazz Band.
Why it took him this long to take the Ndamuwana detour we will never know. Maybe it is because he spends “a lot of time plotting than he executes”. Paralysing perfectionism, you know the drill. But what we know for sure is there’s more music like this coming.
“I am working on new stuff. You can anticipate more music definitely. And because I am not limiting myself to just music of this nature, expect different kinds of music as well,” said Zie.
“Ndamuwana” is available for free streaming on YouTube. Check it out.
